Originally Posted by Wavshrdr
Curse you Bruce M! You have cost me so much money this year. I bought a Downtube FS because you and now I am buying a Swift. I test rode a Xootr which helped too.
I am going with a Nexus 8spd, upgraded rims and brakes and probably with Marathon tires (still deciding).
Now for a general question to all, any other things I should think about fitting on it? I thought about going with a Schlumpf in it for greater range but now I am thinking about maybe a dual front chainring and manually change the chain while have a chain tensioner in the rear. Any thoughts on this? I could have basically a dual range gear selector without a lot of money invested. Basically I need a city range and then something for when I tour and can cruise a little faster. I originally was leaning toward a Rohloff but then the hub would cost more than the bike. Plus if it got stolen I'd be pretty peeved.
Haahaha.... Wavshrdr, you're killing me here!! If you've been following my folder musings then you know we haven't delved much into my Schlumpf projects! Way to go with the Swift!! If you don't like it, feel free to lay the blame on me, but, if you are enamoured, make sure I hear about that too...haha
Since you're ordering up, get online with one of the gear calculators and find the target zones you want to ride in. The Nexus Redline hub has a 307% overall gear range (same as a mega-range 11/34 cassette), so you'll want to spec the chain ring and get a couple of sprockets close to what you want (probably 16t or 17t) so you can have a bit of fun playing with ratios...other than that, will really look forward to pics of your ride!
Oh, I almost forgot, you probably still have some dough left.....on the 'to do' list, I'm going to build another Nexus 8 Redline hub for an 05 Dahon JetXP which will also see a Schlumpf SpeedDrive, bits are in hand but the spare time isn't.. Once completed, I will play test it against my current Schlumpf equipped bike which is a Dahon Helios XX with 9spd SRAM X.0 compoenents.... once I have satisfied my curiosity of releative efficiencies of the two, I will probably move the XX's Schlumpf to the Swift...
Rock on,
Bruce